The world seemed to stand still for a moment. Kate stared at me, her mouth half-open, and my heart pounded uncomfortably as I waited for her to speak.
"Oh, thank God!"
Okay, that wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting. "You're … pleased?"
"Of course-don't you realise? I thought all this time it was me. I thought-God, I thought I'd failed to be a good enough wife; I left you because it wasn't working and then I still made you mess up your life." She gave me the soppiest smile I'd seen in years. "It all makes so much sense, now. I didn't … I didn't make you unhappy; you just couldn't have been happy with me."
Guilt stabbed at me as I grabbed both her hands. "I didn't … I had no idea you felt like that. God, I'm so sorry. It was never your fault. It was mine, all along."
"Rubbish! You can't help being gay."
"No, but I didn't have to bury my head in the sand and hope it'd go away. I should have been more honest-with you, with myself. But I just kept thinking-God, I was stupid." I shook my head. "I thought if I didn't let myself be gay, I wouldn't be."
"Oh, Tim." She let go of my hands-and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tight.
I hissed, Wolverine-style, at the sudden pain in my bruised ribs.
Kate sprang back as if I'd electrified her. "I'm so sorry! God, how thoughtless of me. Does it hurt very much?"
"It's all right-I'll live."
"Can I … see?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Any excuse to get my kit off, eh?"
Kate looked affronted. "As your legal advisor, I mean. I ought to know how badly you were injured."
We shared a wry smile as I untucked my shirt from my jeans and lifted it up. Kate gave a sharp little intake of breath when she saw the bruising which, admittedly, had developed nicely since last night, from what little I could see without a mirror.
"Oh, Tim! Are there more like that?"
"No, no. That's the worst. There's some bruising to my forearms, obviously, where I was blocking his kicks."
I've never known anyone as able as Kate to give the impression of tapping her foot without actually doing anything so rude as tapping her foot. Sighing, I pulled my shirt off altogether and held out my forearms for inspection.
I wasn't quite prepared for her to pull out her phone and start snapping pictures. "For the private album?" I asked drily.
Kate tutted. "For evidence, obviously. Now, tell me-have you found someone? A man, I mean?"
I could feel my mouth stretching into a soppy smile. "Yes. Yes, I have. His name's Matt, and he works at Jay's shop, and he's a really great guy. Actually, he's here now-he wanted to give me time to explain things to you. I'd really like you to meet him-shall I give him a shout?"
Kate put away her phone and smiled a little tearily. "You should see your face right now … Yes-I'd love to meet him."
"Matt!" I yelled up the stairs. "It's safe to come down." I couldn't seem to shift the gormless grin.
"Oh, Tim-I'm so happy for you." Kate sniffed, hugging me a lot more gently this time.
When Matt came warily downstairs, he gave my shirtless, embraced-by-my-not-quite-ex-wife state a pointed look. "Um," he said. "Should I come back later? Or, you know, not at all?"
He let out a startled yelp as a tearstained Kate grabbed him and yanked him into the hug. "I'm so glad he's found you." She sniffled onto his shoulder.
I patted her back. "There, there."
Matt's gaze met mine over the top of her head, and we stayed like that, just looking into each other's eyes, for a long moment.
Then Kate stepped back briskly from the embrace and blew her nose, I put my shirt on and we finally got to sit down and drink our coffee, by now rather lukewarm.
Kate had me run through the events of last night, stopping me to ask questions as I went. I was relieved she didn't see fit to make any comments on my behaviour in front of Matt. Finally, she nodded and stood up. "It's probably best if we go down to the police station and see if Mr. Pritchard has made a statement yet. The way things are at the moment, it's going to very much depend on whether he makes a counter-claim to the effect that you were the aggressor. But hopefully, the most you'll be charged with is battery."
I winced. It sounded all too much like what Pritchard had been doing to Matt. "And what's the sentence for that? And what happens if hopefully doesn't pan out?"
Kate took a deep breath. "It's entirely likely you'll just be fined. There is the possibility you could go to prison, but for a first offence, even if you're charged with ABH-that's assault occasioning actual bodily harm-"
"I know what it means, Kate. I just want to know if I'm going to be charged with it."